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Le Gardien
| }} For the past one hundred and eighty-three years, the SuperHero Le Gardien has protected the country of France. Though there has been some dispute whether he is in fact the first, he is publicly known as the "original SuperHero" - the persona of Le Gardien is historically the first account of a SuperHuman creating an alias for themselves in order to fight crime. Despite his fame, very few are privy to Le Gardien's actual identity. As such, no one is aware that Le Gardien has actually been portrayed by seven different people throughout the Hero's history. Raphaël Chevallier, who first designed the armor and alias of Le Gardien in 1824, trained another to continue his work, and each Hero has trained his own successor in the years since. The current Le Gardien is Pierre Moreau, who has operated as the famed Hero for the last five years. History Born in 1801 to formerly aristocratic parents, Raphaël Chevallier grew up amidst the turmoil of Napoleon's reign of France. From an early age, Raphaël was stronger than he should have been, and was easily able to lift his parents up when he was five. Seeing an opportunity for him to have a useful career, they convinced him to become a blacksmith's apprentice. Raphaël's unnatural strength made metalworking extremely easy for him, and he was soon outperforming even his master. Having been brought up on the foundations of honesty and morality, Raphaël was extremely perturbed by the political turbulence France was going through and the ramifications it was having on its citizenry. Determined that someone had to defend the country from itself, Raphaël began designing a medieval suit of armor for himself, along with a unique sword that only he could wield. Dubbing himself Le Gardien (French for The Guardian), he began to patrol Paris and its surrounding area, bringing justice to whomever he saw as committing a crime. Word of the "Flying Knight" spread like wildfire throughout Europe, and the French monarchy declared Le Gardien a vigilante, a criminal worthy of execution for his crimes. Raphaël quickly learned that his true identity needed to be kept secret, or else he wouldn't live to continue his work. He also began to notice a growing trend, as a handful of others like himself began to appear in England, America, and various places in Europe. Under King Charles X's reign, Raphaël's family was compensated for the property they had lost during the French Revolution. With this money Raphaël built his family a small estate in the outskirts of Paris. He had an alterior motive for creating the estate, however: underneath the mansion he built a secret chamber where he could store his armor and operate undetected. Raphaël once fought with a man who called himself The Technician, and though he defeated the Villain, he narrowly escaped with his life. As he began to grow older, Raphaël knew that he could only continue to act as Le Gardien for so long before he became too old to continue fighting. He began to scour all of France, searching for anyone who had powers similar to himself. In 1850, after several years of searching and all but giving up, Raphaël eventually found a young man named André Bellanger, who possessed both of Raphaël's powers. Publicly taking André as his blacksmithing apprentice, Raphaël began to teach him everything he had learned over the years - his fighting style, his knowledge of city layouts, and everyone he had ever met as Le Gardien. In essence, he taught André how to act exactly like himself, so that no one would ever realize that a switch had occured. Raphaël officially retired in 1853, allowing André to take up the mantle of Le Gardien. Over time, the title of Le Gardien and the armor that came with it would pass into many more hands - to Norbert Pronovost in 1887, to Dominique Gautreaux in 1913, to Henri Rousseau in 1943, to Gabriel Lapointe in 1971, and finally to Pierre Moreau, the current Le Gardien, in 2002. When Monsieur Sinistre attempted to blow up the Eiffel Tower, Le Gardien arrived and foiled his plan. Shortly afterward, the League member Lionheart arrived from England for the same purpose. To Save The World! During the invasion of the Technax Armada, Le Gardien battled against the attacking forces. Relationship with Other Characters Pierre has few friends, and most consider him a recluse. He once had a love interest, but he was forced to break up with her when he began training to become Le Gardien. As a Hero, Le Gardien is somewhat snobbish, belittling other Heroes who don't conform to his somewhat harsh version of justice. As such, he refuses to join the League of Salvation, despite repeated attempts to convince him to join. They are too soft on SuperVillains, he believes, and would only get in his way. He is also extremely protective of his identity, going to great lengths to prevent others from learning who he is. Over the years a number of people have looked into Le Gardien's identity, but most of them gave up after receiving harsh threats or brutal beatings. Several criminals have also been killed reportedly searching for Le Gardien. Most consider it unhealthy to delve into Le Gardien's personal life, and even other SuperHumans generally leave him alone. Abilities and Skills Initially, Le Gardien possessed the dual powers of superhuman strength and flight, a trait shared by five of the six future incarnations of the Hero. Pierre's powers are more conditional, however. His superhuman strength is adaptive, meaning that his exact strength fluxuates depending on what he's up against. On average, his strength is always twice as strong as what he would need to move things - for example, if he lifted a car, he would have twice the strength that he would need to lift it. This power is also limited - his strength can only adapt to a certain level (where he can easily lift several tons) before he simply cannot get any stronger. The reverse is also true - if he were to lift a feather, his strength would not degenerate until he could only lift a feather; the least strong he can become is what would be natural for his body structure. Pierre inherited the original armor that Raphaël Chevallier has designed, with the exception of a Heads-Up Display that the former Le Gardien, Gabriel Lapointe, had installed several years earlier. Being unable to fly under his own power like the previous Le Gardiens, Pierre installed levitation pads on the soles of the armor's boots, as well as automated controls on the gauntlets. As Le Gardien, Pierre also possesses a unique one-handed greatsword, also designed by Raphaël. The sword is designed soley for superhuman use - a greatsword, by definition, is a two handed sword, meaning that the hilt is long enough for one to hold it with both hands (and, considering a sword's weight, using both hands is often required merely to lift one). Le Gardien's greatsword is designed for one-handed use; given the proportions of the sword, it is not physically possible for anyone without augmented strength to lift it, let alone wield it to any degree of usefulness. Just like all the Le Gardiens before him, Pierre has been trained to use a unique style of hand-to-hand combat, swordfighting, and acrobatics that are known as Le Gardien's classic style. He was also forced to memorize any and all contact that Le Gardien had had within the past seventy-five years, so that he can easily converse with those who had met the prior incarnations of the Hero as if he were the same man. Category:SuperHero Category:The TSTW Chronicler